>> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. up next on booktv investigative journalist doug stein look at financial benefits of legalizing cannabis which he argues with that $100 billion to the u.s. economy. this is an hour and 15 minutes. ..

>> all demographics and income levels and this is a place that we are a better america for being here. thank you so much for having me here today. this is one of the greatest things. [applause] >> no question about it. we are going to go through a journey in southern california, which has unilaterally come in 2011, relocated my family there to research what would happen and teamed up with a farmer and local law enforcement and that is what i will be talking to you about today. the big picture

journalistically, we are winning. it may not say seem that way, but 56% of americans now are fully ready to get cannabis out of the controlled substances act and regulated upwards of alcohol. supporting and ending the drug war, especially the domestic war on cannabis. that may be an overly optimistic view for some people who know some of the rates that are going on still against us when for the millennium, but i assure you the long-term story is going to have a happy ending. when, we will have to see. first, a little bit of background on the plant itself. how does a flower become a felony? in 1937 in the southwest region where i live in new mexico, there was tension between anglo

and latino power structures. excusing this will happen a few times today. my projector sometimes acts a little bit funny. >> [inaudible question] >> thank you. okay. so, there was this demonization of corrupting young women, and the mexican views, on the east coast, after alcohol prohibition ended, newspaper reporters, do you think politicians today are bad. negro jazz singers trying to corrupt white women. the whole reason they started the federal banning of cannabis, and in 1971, $1 billion of our tax dollars ago, started the

modern world drugs. one is the drug war going to end? well, i asked my friend who is here today come in ahead of california normal, it is inevitable, it could be next year or it could be in 20 years. it is up to us as americans. to demand that this is not a silly college peace sign issue. it is about the economic and health and well-being of our nation. to illustrate that, and i wanted to tell you, what motivated me in new mexico. i lived in the border area. my next-door neighbor was a retiree. she was self-medicating on cannabis. for some anxiety issues. i normally wake up on my goat ranch to the sound of hummingbird wings in the theater. one day, helicopters and planes

-- 60 guys in white suvs, trying to look inconspicuous. [laughter] the american taxpayers finance the inner agency border area narcotics task forces, that are supposed to be fighting drug cartels, instead of our honing in on my aarp neighbor. easily millions of dollars spent in taxpayer money. bad enough, that many automatic weapons near my rant rent for my kids in danger. and it comes out a year later at the nearby mayor, a town sleepy since it was invaded in 1916, it turns out he is a charter member of smuggling back and forth.

the terrorists are walking through what the borders of the machine guns, an old and the old lady, this lever to the ground. [laughter] the targets of the drug war are the wrong targets. i think law enforcement on all levels, they are out there to serve and protect. once that i met on all levels, of course from the research for this book, was generally good people. some of them believed in it, some of them believe they that they are spending taxpayer money. but nonetheless, people trying to do their jobs. the problem isn't law enforcement. the problem is we need to turn off the tap of $9 million going to so-called enforcement. forty years from 1 trillion tax dollars at and almost no effect on supply and demand. the wider american mainstream is waking up. i live in a place in new mexico where that cowboy hat wearing old ladies in the post office

and barack obama was born in libya. when they asked me what my new book is about and i tell them it is an economic and social analysis of why the end of the drug war was good for america, without fail, the response is, oh yeah, there are tragedies in mexico, and when is it going to end. it's not that dangerous compared to the math. when we going to stop arresting people for pot. the truth is black and white. as a journalist of two decades of experience, to sound too much of a cheerleader about a particular issue, people are going to think that i'm teacher chong or i must be woody harrelson. but the reality is, from a journalistic perspective, it's black and white. the billions we give it back into our economy, the statistic that is often cited, 70% of drug cartels come from canada that

might be high. quite a lot of organized crime financing today is not from the heroine and the math. it is from cannabis. north dakota has an agriculture commissioner that is begging to put this plan back to work for america's factories, clothing and energy i was giving a talk and the other speaker was the usda expert on biofuels. she told me about all kinds of things that i hadn't heard of. petrova filters, great biofuel. she said yes, there is. it is better than terms of corn and soy in terms of yield per

acre. and i said well, don't you know, it's a schedule that were not even allowed to talk about it. it's a schedule one drug. basically americans are realizing that i saw this going in this direction and i had to write about it. there are books telling the truth that the drug war is a mistake. it's one of our worst policies. like segregation, it is that bad for america. but i wanted to see what example can i do. mainstream america is on our side. arkansas, the day before yesterday put medical cannabis on the ballot. if you're going to put it on the ballot in arkansas, we are ready to end the drug war, people so i wanted to give those 46% of americans that are not polling and an example of what the drug

peace might look like. because all he got his embarrassingly, the most incarcerated nation in history. ten times more people in prison today in the u.s. and china. hundreds of thousands just for using this relatively harmless plant, especially compared to alcohol. so it is time to get it out of the controlled substances act. i went to the county because it was a place of three generations in to cannabis being 80% of the economy other than i know i am speaking to an educated crowd that night, so you'll probably know the answer to this, but the number one federally kosher legal crop in 2010 generated $74 million. that was great. whatever number it is, add a few zeros what you think the value in tiny farmers, anybody?

shot on a number? >> 200 million. okay. don't laugh when i tell you this. i will tell you where i got the number. conservatives, 6 million. i want to know afterwards what do you think is his right. dale is the knowledgeable guy on us. here's where that number comes from. just the one county. they seized 600,000 plants in 2010 and estimated at 10% of the crop. farmers say it is way lower than that. that is like 1% of the property but let's be generous. is it fair to give a thousand value on the low end to a cannabis plant? if so, the 6 million plants that did make it at $1000 a part -- it could be higher or lower. can we at least agree?

[inaudible conversations] >> what you think, they'll? [inaudible] >> nobody has any idea how much it would be. >> easy that in the annual and federal drug report. yes, we don't know. we are trying to eradicate it, but it's everywhere. whites not eradicated any more, we can't really stop this plan. everybody wants the plan. i don't hope everybody can hear, one thought the number was little heinlein thought was low. it is somewhere possibly in the middle. so this one county. three generations and to cannabis. if you are a for each farmer, which crop are you going to choose? young talented kid with a green

thumb. mendocino became the first county in america with a progressive place where one of the members of the board of supervisors who called it the bubble within the bubble within the bubble. california is live and let live, northern california is a little bit more progressive, mendocino, it could be in the supermarket if it was legal. carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, cannabis, cannabis common cannabis. [laughter] and then you have the medical marijuana patients during cleanup. this is a state printed sign. miracle marijuana patients for highway cleanup. thank you so much for that looks beautiful.

mendocino, the sheriff, a local boy from a twice elected who is very popular. he told me when he flew over the county when he first became sheriff, he said so that is how the conservative case for two stanford tuitions of the are the same time. this is the economy. this was a fellow -- this is not a cheech and chong sure, this is a decorated law enforcement professional inside, he said, my goodness. the sun is still rising and it still america, maybe we could acknowledge if you in the room and noticed the economy was in the tank and he was about to

say, you have to fire some different deputy sheriffs that they have added a sheriff since 1972. he just was one of 20% of its force. the board of supervisors passed the zoning ordinance. 9.31. which is colloquially known as a zip tie warden. that is because of the little little zip tie. 99 cents for fun. it shows some respect for the federal government, because that 100 plants federal sentencing minimum takes into conspiracy. we will permit 99 plans for what we see of about $8500 per farmer. sustainability guidelines along with the geo- program, there was zoning rules, frankly, a lotof people in mendocino and i'm giving my next talk, they thought it was too strict.

they were saying were they to tell me how much medicine i can give to my patients treated but it was a safe middle ground. and it was becoming very popular. america, the drug peace work. one hundred farmers came above board. they raised $600,000 per day saved sheriff tom allman's deputies. he was a rock star up there. they were all going to implement this. the biggest impact is what sergeant randy told me, was not so much economic savings, it was public safety savings. in my 26 years, he said, i have never seen so many people calling for domestic violence calls, home invasions, things they were afraid to call for in the past because they were afraid they might get busted for their garden. now they have the chamber of

commerce and a sheriff's permit -- they have bracelets and necklaces of one all their plans. it was an unmitigated success. now, you will notice this slightly sad story. visit to a program works. heading into the mendocino county area, i am a renter myself. i haven't had have the hat and the broken down truck and the beard and i am an organic hemp proponent, we buy only organic hemp diapers. for sale out here in the lobby. we tie our tomato plants with hemp twine because it holds of the best. but we have to get -- it's

growing 20% per year. hemp is such a good fiber, it is in the dodge viper numbers and doors. i couldn't believe it. i called and they said yes, we do use cannabis. this is not squeezing the oil from that permits a perfect oil. what i want is a solution to this. i want to see if i'm getting this right. one of the directors here and one of the founders to get navy or army surplus have, a deal

something in the 70s? smacked it was a coalition. we specialize in clothing and help develop it. it was romanian primarily. in those days, doing business in china was very controversial. it was not something that we wanted to embrace at that time. the hemp markets would've imploded in the late '90s and it became very difficult to do what we wanted to do with the plan. when medical cannabis became legal, we sort of felt like that was the area that we needed to focus on. so we came to california. we had a great time and we learned a lot, just as you articulated. industrial hemp, especially the cellulose just has so much potential, people can't even

realize the potential and what it's like. it is like the processing chip. >> this is the photo that i want america to remember. this is the photo, a 26-year-old -- i'm sorry, a 26 year long veteran of law enforcement shaking hands with an american, sustainable, locally fermented taxpaying cannabis farmer on his farm with no problems. everybody is happy and smiling. america. the drug peace worked. i am a patriot, i am a father of two small children, i want my kids be safe to be safe, i want them to be healthy. if you're going to worry, worry about america's real problem, prescription pill abuse and alcohol. cannabis is not the problem. cannabis is good for our country in just about every way.

what anything just like anything -- they can be abused. criminals do not ask for id. so if you're worried that it won't be good enough if it is regulated like alcohol for social use for adults, i'm sorry, it's going to be just as valid as good as the veterans we have today with far fewer side effects. carrots, aspirin, anything can be abused if it's overused. we have to educate our kids. no problem, people, the drug war is over. so here is a zip tie plant. here is the farmer that i follow. his name is thomas. it was very brave of him to use his real name in the book read to this day, he could be a target. wow, this is going crazy. maybe we could try pulling it out one more time. i'm sorry, i'll try turning it off. it has a mind of its own.

the chirpy and smell of cannabis is a very beautiful thing. okay, so thomas' father was against the soviets. he fought against the soviets. and basically they said, you do what you believe is right. he also paid cash for like six semesters of college with no questions asked before he moved to mendocino. he always paid his taxes come even when he was underground. he would use a euphemism like independent contractor, a man who decided he was going to be above about what he does. here he is paying his fees in the sheriff's department headquarters, getting his zip

tie. , ready to hurt the cartel. meanwhile, i learned were profiling is. cannabis farmers in northern california have to run the government -- they have to run the gauntlet. not people that are going for the [inaudible] these are people keeping it in the state and following state law. law enforcement the law enforcement authorities are still fighting the drug wars, they know that it is sort of like 100,000 wildebeest crossing a stream of crocodiles. only 25 crocodiles -- at least 25 wildebeest will be eaten, but you don't want to be one of them. you want to be getting across that stream. that is like what it for a

cannabis farmer to get medicine to patients. some argue that maybe it was the effort to lessen -- i'm not sure, if the deputies would've had the munchies -- for the moment that i crsed into sonoma county, anheuser-busch knows what america's number one cash crop is. this is what the saddest thing. it says, durenberger, enjoy one of humanity's oldest plants and go see the giants. it's great, have a good time. be an american. meanwhile, across the border, and immediately pulled over, falsely told that my truck smelled like cannabis. it was terrific. i was researching a book on the drug war and it was great.

they are pulling my kids see top, playing good cop bad cop. one of them said, you have a lot or a little. 10 pounds and 100 pounds? and i thought, using 10 pounds is a little? i don't think i've ever seen a 1 ounce or 2 ounces. so i told the officers that was not carrying cannabis but i was writing a book about it and can i go on a ride with him. and that rather quickly ended the incident. but this whole thing about your truck smelled like cannabis, most of the time it is a wildebeest in the crocodiles have someone to eat. i look the part, i was just on the journalistic side of it. so they got the wrong guy. and i did the math and then i cost gravy train something like

$1100 or $11,000, it's in the book, that pay for the amount of time i wasted not having cannabis on me that day. [laughter] the drug war, our tax dollars are going to property seizure. it's what they call stop and rest, often of minorities. because the more that you document, the more rural areas you have, you might remember the incident, but a year or two ago, the u.s. attorney for the eastern district of california handed over over $100,000 in cash. some law enforcement official in his district said here's a hundred grand, enjoy. no questions asked. that is american taxpayer dollars. cannabis must be removed from the controlled substances act. can we get the point across?

it is a long 10 month season. helicopters are overhead at all times, but you can see the strip zoning guidelines 9131 zip tie program has there we go sorry about that. okay, it still allowing me this is a special slide coming up, jerry, i really appreciate it. >> i won't use the laser printer anymore. but these banners were put on

the fence by the sheriff's department by the zip tie permitted farms during the 2001 growing season. the point was for the helicopters overhead, the state and local helicopters to leave them alone because they are prevented. the sheriff directed most of his four, the sheriff had to call the local drug warrior -- before they even consider what he calls issuing paper or a warrant if they were law-abiding, he didn't want them rated. they were not rated until what we will talk about an expert but what i really learned is he is bringing this back to his farm, you are not allowed his poison pesticides, according to the zip tie program. you have to use green and natural substances.

i learned a lot about how to grow tomatoes and carrots. these guys were serious farmers. he called them the best summers of his generation. one or two people in the book, he asked me to call him rock. he developed the strain from farm to patient. i'm sure it's here now. what he liked about it was the flavor, it was a high elevation custom developed strain that didn't get what he called caps lock. and i wasn't familiar with this term. some of the instances of cannabis can be known to provide great pain relief from arthritis relief, but they can sometimes kind of zonk you out on the couch and it's hard to move, even for pizza or whatever.

it provided what he thought were analgesic properties, also, a cannabinoid, which is becoming widely known in cannabis circles. vital toxicity potentials -- that is the strain that i follow. the plant that he called lucio. we will see a little bit of her in a moment. it totally works, incidentally, it raised its hundred thousand dollars. if the feds haven't shut the program down for it, it would be 1000 easily or maybe every one of the counties other generating millions of dollars for local economies. ..

>> they were not in custody a week or month ago later. a week later, the hog farm, at the guya festival, he's not armed, wearing a purple polo shirt next to the poster child, on front line, name is matt cullen, the district attorney, the chief prosecutor for the

coupe, and there's the board of supervisors who started the problem, a big supporter of the program, and all the panel designed for local cap bis farmer to ask questions about how they can legally grow. you have all the guys sitting at the table, and television a q&a like after the talk, people saying, yeah, dave, listen, i know nose plant limit is 99, but i grow from seed rather than cone. i don't know the sex of the plant. the farmers only want female plants because that's where the flowers and medicine is from. male plants, unless you are doing breeding, are irrelevant. dave, can i do 150 plants before 99 before i sex them and then i can go down to 989 after i sex them? this was an inside the bubble event. therethere's the local member of

commerce, farm bureau, good standing, chatting it up with the head prosecutor of the county. ladies and gentlemen of america, the drug war is unnecessary, and it's going to be over soon, i promise. hold me to it. meanwhile, candidates looking for a popular way to rally the youth vote, every time i turn on cnn, all the people motivated for the election, this guy had no problem getting elected telling us the drug war is an utter failure and our cannabis law need to be decannibal liesed. that's a obama quote. if you were to go to a podium and said, sorry i've ignored the drug war, but i'll do something about it. not only does he rally the youth vote in colorado, but ohio and florida, his approval rating goes up. americans of all political persuasions are ready to end the

drug war. this is various protests, and, oops every time i touch the laser point, sorry. there'sñr a lot of good groups folks can get information from. normal national organization for marijuana is a great one. i'm sure the harbor side website has tons of information as well. the other thing i wanted to mention is when you call your congress people and your senators and say it's important for america to get the $30 billion out of the budget in the time of crisis and allow the billions of tax dollars to come into the plant cripping the cartels, don't relieu half rescheduling of the plant that allow the pharmacies to reconcentrate. we have evolved from the plan, and the plan needs to be legalizeized. i think it needs to be fully removed. i don't know if that's harbor side's official policy. pretty sure it's normal, but we have other good organizations,

law enforcement, you can go to any of the guys' websites. law enforcement, safe acts, drug policy alliance is good, normal, of course, and sphiewpts for sensible drug policy have branches at hundreds of university. sorry for the bummer slide. days before harvest, american tax paying, locally permitted job saving, deputy job saving, job saving, railer against the cartel, bane of the cartels, matt cohen, automatic weapons, bash down the doors, separate him from his wife in cuffs for eight hours with no access to attorneys, seize three quarters of a million dollars worth of medicine that patients, including 3300 of the parents -- patients including many cancer

patients needed grown pesticide free. they say matt cohen's raid was a victory for the cartels. it was the worst manifestation of the drug war, but i want to tell you what the dea told me. i called them up, a guy in dc spokesman, and i said why you raiding northstone organics. cannabis farmers? they are breaking federal law, that's why we raided them. if you don't like the control substances act, change it. all we do is enforce it. i thought, really? federal law, just has to be enforced? what about the 400 illegal or undocumented grape workers you drive past to get to the pardon. you're not enforcing it uniformly, not that the grape farmers should be busted. we love the grapes, and, you know, pay, you know, documented wages. we couldn't afford wine, but the fact is federal law is not

implemented equally at all. these are the questions. i think not so much questions for folks at harbor side, but nationwide, peoplement to know, ending the drug war increase use? i debated a drug warrior on television, and all he said, is, oh, when they legalized it in am amsterdam, use went up, oh, the children, the children. you could not have easier access to cannabis today. it's easier to get access than alcohol. criminal don't ask for id. if there's an increase in adult use when available at the corner store, i'm willing to trade that off for the decrease in crime when the cartels are out of it. we could take 1 billion of the 30 billion we waste on the drug war today for education to make sure that, especially use for children would not increase. another question, even if it's safe, cannabis is a gateway drug. multiple studies show not only

is it not a gateway drug, but the stereo type that's zonked out, any cognitive impairment, which is even with long term ha habitual use is not relatively insignificant, but it is significant -- it diminishes when use is scaled back so basically relatively harmless plant. we have some issues we have to decide op as a society. driving, how do you test cannabis for driving? it's not the same drug alcohol issue. cannabis testing stays in the system way longer than intoxication 1 there. we have to be asking law enforcement to be smarter about how they judge for intoxication helping us with the real epidemic pill end -- endepidemic because that is not breath liesed either. we have to change the way we test for intoxication, but we

can deal with that as a society. pictures of the cannabis plant itself, the sike active plants are bushy, an 8-10 poupt worth of flowers producing plant, beautiful, robust plant there. they come from the hindu cold climates and grow well. more tree like, an apple tree next to a cannabis tree. they are trapically descended, mostly along the equators where they originate. today, most trees are a blend of the two, but i tried to show a real distinction so you can see how different the plant can be. talk about no stigma. this is what is great in america, honestly, for adult use, go to a cocktail party, want a glass of wine, there it is. if you want cannabis, there it is for you. i think that that works for the hundred million americans who used cannabis like the last three presidents. bud trimming. the four trims time of year is the least favorite time of year

during the last day of prohibition a farmer told me because day after day, you're doing a task of trimming the leaves off of the flowers so that the buds are ready to go, and it's when the home invasions happy. it's when you have to hire beam. it's hard to hire people by the book when you violate federal law if you want to pay them fairly, workers' comp, god for bid. that's why they planned to have a facility, rather than in the secret of their basement, but they documented every flower with the zip ties. he was 100% legal. even his scale was regular lated with -- was permitted by thedown showing that former black marketeers should write legislation because they know every loophole and know every scale in the zip tie program was registered with the county. this program works. here's some of the down sides of prohibition. you got neighborhoods all over

the emerald triangle saying, look, if you doamplet live here, you don't want to live here. there's a cannabis farm in every yard pretty much in california. prohibition forced indoor growing. now, i don't want to do an indoor versus outdoor rivalry thing because there's a place for all types of farming, but the fact is, i'm a stainability journalist. if i go to the farmers' market, and they said the broccoli was broken under god's sun, organic local soil with warms and microbacteria versus something grown in a greenhouse, i choose the sun. i'm a crunchy outdoor guy for my carrots and whatnot. i don't like the pesticides and high energy use that's gone into indoor growing, so my appeal to indoor cannabis farmers is if you grow indoors, and sometimes you have to, after proimition,

do it as sustainable as possible. billboards for turkey boards. that's suppressing the smell of the cannabis so you can run it past the crocodiles own highway 101 and get it down to parties. my family lived in willis. initially because i have little kids, i wanted to separate the research of the cannabis research from my family, home life from the work life, but we represented a remote cabin, and every single house was growing cannabis. there was no way to avoid it. it was no public safety problem. anyway, the minute you get in, boom, first billboard, ready to grow. get it? farm security. this is what prohibition does, forces underground secrecy, a spud mentality we benefit from a public safety prohibition. okay. so the plant i followed was

ready for harvest. it was october, the rains were coming, time to harbor sidestment look at her, full of flowers, locally developed strain, grown by a local outdoor farmer. thomas, the farmer, named this plant lucille after a neighbor of his, funny back story, the neighbor, the fellow was an organic who everybody in the area said paid for his farm from 20 years of cannabis farming, but this was a new wife from southern california who evidently didn't know about this time in his life, and she was very -- no experience with the plant, and just if it was not alcohol or tobacco, she was against it. which is, here, it's like silicone valley rallies against computers. you know? move somewhere else if you don't like cannabis, but in the end, he was a law-abiding gentleman, joined the neighborhood watch, made the neighborhood safer, so

she came around. in honor of her, he named the plant after her. i was watching the plant for p months. clipping five minutes, got her into a wheel barrel, cures her, he's wearing the 23w50*u78 -- obama 2012 shirt, and in 2008, relocated to florida because of the statements about ending the drug war. he's still giving obama another chance, those wondering if you want to end the drug war, for whom do you vote? you have to hope voting for romney. he went talk about it. if you believe in the reality of the two-party system, you're only hope is not only to vote for obama, but to lean on your legislators this is the number one issue, and they have to take it seriously. they fought the battle for decades, and they look, like, yeah, johnny come lately, right. congress is going to wake up. they're going to, the tipping point will be reached. it is. we come to you with good news. a uc davis professor with no connection to cannabis wants to

end the drug war, forms a nonprofit testing company, and they come down to thomas' farm, takes a little piece of lucille, tests her for molds, pesticides, and things you doment, things you want. these are the chemical can'ts of the plant, more than 90 known, thc the most famous, and we talked about them, 90 of them, many of them showing very strong medicinal benefits, and hopefully when we get this plant out of the controlled substances act, we can study it more, but the people provided this bag sealing, small sealing service as well. there is the crop. he had to run the gauntlet down highway 101 six times with the shiny, uc berkley graduate, polished so the cops didn't know he was a graduate, and he made it. he made it through the gauntlet

six times, and i got the meet to patients. this, ladies and gentlemen, is what changed or opened my mind forever about how important cannabis is for the medical side. i'm a believer in the long run, industrial cannabis proves more valuable to the american economy than social cannabis through energy. today, budñi wiser's a big company, but exxon is a bigger company. if we solve the industrial crisis with cannabis, that's bigger than social/medicinal. anyone out there who might thing medical cannabis is a sham, wow. i went to the vista senior subdivision. two patients of matt cohen's, the fellow who was raided. they were party one and two of the he donated a good amount of lucille, the first plant i was following. diane, there were a couple,

dianne, debilitating art arthri, and her husband, they have been fighting liver cancer, and i -- they welcomed me into their home and told me to ask them anything. i walked in and said, bill, why cannabis? he was laying in bed, had a bad day, and he said, i never used it, but i was down to 118 pounds, and the oncologist said if you don't try cannabis, yoir going to die. just try it. i did, bill said, and eight months later, and i weigh 155 pounds, i have an appetite, good days sometimes, i'm on my feet, not zonked, and this plant, he told me, saved my life so, please, america, don't try and tell me that medical cannabis is a sham. i wanted to know how it worked, the plant i followed, and so a couple days later, diane and bill called and said as an appetite stimulus for bill, he had a craving for beef

sfroganoff. that's what he wanted. he -- the plant worked for him. for her, for her debilitating arthritis, it had a mild property, and the greg gone mendell of the strain, was correct. he was giving me, you know, smell this, eighth generation of this strain mother and that father. i got the plum finish. he promised me it didn't have the -- diane confirmed that. she said, it didn't totally e -- eliminate my pain. i need a stronger one to eliminate the art arthritis, bue recommended it her doctor who medicates with this for glock coma, and if he needs to stay focused without zonk kiness, this is for him. this was valuable to thomas. during prohibition, it's not

easy to find a doctor to explain this to you. these are sticky, where a lot of the canabinoids reside. the agricultural report year after year advised farmers to grow the plant, per risk plant for soil and industry. she wouldn't have -- the oldest existing medical hant book is a chinese one with cannabis remedies in it. thomas jefferson wrote on cannabis paper canvas that covered the covered way gones that settled the west out here, of course, cannabis fibers, and my grandmothers lived lives in hempstead, new york. this is a plant that humans like michael pullen says, these plants bred us. we have receptors that spring up

in your body, waiting for us to deliver the plant to our bodies. they were called the best farmer of the generation because they learned how to develop a plant with potency that was unvalved decades ago. drug warriors say, oh, the to ten sigh makes the plant dangerous. one just needs to use less for various needs. talk about powerful people who agree with everything we're talking about today. when i started researching the book, i thought i was going to have to convince people, you know, robertson, he says enthe drug war, it is wrong to imprison young americans for a plant. george, while reagan secretary of state, vocal against the drug war, former head of the fed, and, of course, noble laureate, the late friedman, right wing conservative economist said only

thing prohibiting not something people want does is create organized crime. that's all it does. he called it obscene profits for criminals. obviously, folks, ending the drug war is the right decision. meanwhile, the farmer is still farming, supplying parties. all he wants, he says is to be a normal american taxpayer and farmer where it's no difference growing apples. he's providing a product americans want. he agrees with the agricultural commissioner of north dakota who is begging, begging cannabis to get all the controlled substances act to profit like canada is. 20% a year the canadians cannabis market is growing so this slide, sometime in the 19th century when we last appreciated the plant.

i'll leave did what the american government said in a film i hope everybody watches on youtube "hemp for victory." thank you very much. [applause] >> go get his book, it's very, very powerful. anybody have any questions? i have one. anybody else? >> ask away. >> anybody else? >> you're focusing here on the legal growers, would be legal growers. do you have a sense of how many of the growers didn't care where the pot was going at all? >> that's a great, great, great, great question. the question is focused on the farmers in 2011 who came above work. the real punch line, after raiding matt cohen, the board of

supervisor adviser threatened the board of supervisors if they didn't cancel the crime reducing, deputy sheriff job saving cartel herding, cannabis farming program. they did, under threat, the zip tie program, we hope, temporarily shut down. i would have had a different answer if we had the question and the feds didn't shut it down, but 100 farmers is a tiny percentage of farmers, and i spoke to black market farmers, and what i noticed from speaking with them is that they were paying attention. as the season went on, they watched carefully. i worked at the food bank while i was living there to give back, and the volunteers were people doing probation and community

service for cannabis, and i got the test stipes from them, and one living near me, a black market grower, not part of the zip tag, not admitting on the tax forms what he did let's say, but you heard two comments -- oh, give me a break, that's the same sheriff's department that shot my dog, three of the kids screaming on floor, and now they are going to take my name? yeah rights. then three months later, when it was working, they said, so, you just sign up and write a check for -- you know, is it that easy to join? what if some of my back cabins are not in zoning compliance, do they call the fire inspector? what's the deal. can i join the program? i would say by the end of the program, prior the raids, it's close to a majority of farmers

paid attention to the program, and if a couple more years to grow without federal interfernings would have come on board and would, again, if it happened again, but the reality e leads to is true, which is that the vast majority of the cannabis grown today goes to what we consider the black market. my message for those farmers tomorrow is when they say oh, but if we legalize it, it's controlled by phyllis morris tobacco and they will put us out of business. we have a multimillion dollar craft beer business today, we have people who want knew castle and other ales, and if you market the emerald triangle, if

you market the emerald triangle the way napa marketed wine and say this is the top shelf, this is what you really want to impress somebody, don't go to the corner store for coors cannabis, buy emerald triangle rateds triangle certified cannabis, you'll have no problem. if you're growing, churning out buds to pay the represent, you already are coors, but if you want to be the best, there's always a niche in the market for you. other questions? >> anybody else? >> when did you start investigating or writing your book? >> about now, about two years ago, the retired neighbor bugsed for 11 plants. the mayor of an american city

was working uninterrupted for cartels. he was a cartel member, sentenced to 56 members in prison for supplying guns to the cartels and transportation and stuff. i paid attention to that wanting to write a book about it, but i didn't want to complain about the problem, but see if there was a solution, and that's why i chose the county, and so about two years ago. does that answer the question? >> yeah. hoichg were you embedded up there? you wanted a unique point of view on the book, but then those of us who have done writing before know that once you get embedded, sometimes you're original vision gets influenced by that, and i was wondering how your vision might have changed and how being embedded affects

your fame and vision for the book? >> terrific question. so i arrived on valentine's day, 2011, which gave me enough time to get settled in to an extremely moldy cabin with a fox family out in front, we watched the foxes grow up every day i was researching the book, and i fell in love with the county, it's a beautiful up there in the redwoods, and that gave us enough time to go and interview the originator of the strain, and go to the mother plant, watch them clip it off, and start lucille from birth. that got there in february, left after november, end of harvest, delivered to the parties, and i was there for a growing season. that's a very long time. you know, i'm a preacher for outdoor cultivation of everything, but indoor growers have a lot. what is it now, ten weeks? how quickly can you turn around an indoor crop? eight weeks. wow. so eight weeks versus ten

months. this is hard work, a long season up there. now, as far as going native or visions being affected, i was so sounded, and i talk about this in the book, how open everybody was there. dale asked me you know, black marketeers, will they come above board? i don't know about that, but they didn't mine talking to me on the record from the sheriff to the mechanic told any, you know, asking me what the book was about, everybody, oh, yeah, my brother's a farmer for years, look into this and this aspect of it, this strain or this technique or diversion to other states, black markets u whatever, but the reality is everybody was instandpointly open and willing to talk, just about everybody was willing to talk to me about this because it's they're lives, it's the economy up there. it is like walking into silicone valley asking somebody, hey,

know anything about the computers and new apps at going 8? that's what it's like. they are the best farmers of our generation so my vision was not changed that much. when i'm asked what are the big surprises, one was just how big a number it is. i cringe when i say 6 billion, just in the tiny county, 6 billion. that sounds ridiculously high. that was my surprise. how big it is. secondly, how wrong targets are on the drug war. the third one is how ready a mainstream middle america is ready to end the drug war. america is really ready to end this thing. >> if it were to be legalized, studies, you know, obviously production goad -- goes radically up and price drops sightedly. what's your view of that, and in terms of being an economic driver or whatever? >> well, fist of all, it's important, yet another reason why cannabis has to be removed

from the controlled substances act to let states regulate. what the drug warriors who want to spend another 40 years and trillion dollars this tax money argue against this november's full legalization in colorado, oregon, and washington saying, oh, when that happens, people are just going to be shoveling locally legal cannabis into candidates where there's prohibition. all the reason to end prohibition. in terms of the price dob, there's no qn we are asked american farmers of the number one cash crop, dispute on the figures on this, but what's often described at larger crob than corn and wheat combined, abc news says, billions dollar crop already. we're asking these farmers to radically change the economy. when stalin tried to do that in the soviet union, people starved. we do, however, have a little bit of an example with alcohol

prohibition. the reality is after alcohol prohibition ended, the bootleggers, the duke boys, whatever, they were put out of business, and now they just race nascars b and that was where nascar started was bootleggers jacking up the vehicles outrunning the prohibitionists, but they said change the brewing rules allowing microbreweries to be commercial. as long as we are smart about allowing the true craft farmers to be allowed without interfeeng ferns, i'm not worried about the price drops. i think the industrial end for the heartland, north dakota and the nebraskas is going to be such a boom no matter what the price is, putting farmers back on the land, i think, is going to be good for the economy, and not bad for the economy. i say this with humanity because it's easy as a journalist to say, oh, don't worry about it,

just legalize it. i think we'll separate from the chaff, and the best farmers rise to the surface. on the medicinal end, there's a market for what we call the whole plant. bud trimming only came about because people in prohibition was the most bang for the buck in the flowers, but the balanced profile medically is often the most beneficial, whether it's ground up in shakes or administered in smoking or edibles, we may see it in the whole foods cannabis sections, not just flowers and buds, but whole plants. that's another specialty nation we may one day see. that it? >> i have one more. >> go for it. >> it's refreshing to hear you say we're almost out of this thing. [laughter]

like in the health center, clerkive under forfeiture action right now, and you mentioned matt cohen and northstone organics, and all the people up there who have been raided or stopped and this year in 2012 on a rampage and quite frappingly some could argue winning handedly right now those of us fighting that on every single front, and the balance initiatives with steve and i and all the initiatives, and it's no secret we also believe in a wellness, non-tox cation strategy, and so there's all of these strategies in the movement, how to get to where we are right now to where you are saying we are inevitably going to be soon, and some people say,

well, just support for president obama, he'll take care of it. some people say go with spril -- industrial hemp, forget everything else, regulate it like alcohol, have strong regulations, and everything follows on that and there's no support, but what is your opinion personally? what path do you think is the best for the movement to take? >> i confess to being an optimist, i'll confess. i'm a patriot. despite the money in the political system that representative democracy works when we approach it. going from 50% supporting legal support of cannabis in the last year. alcohol prohibition ended in a similar matter. towards the end of alcohol prohibition, states like 17 now are medical cannabis state, and

17 decriminalized. same hopped with alcohol. states said it's nos -- we don't support the policy anymore, and we'll do our own thing. secondly, the prohibitionists according to ken burns and the pbs documentary about prohibition, pushed toorpd at the end, just when public was turning against prohibition, the speak easy raids had nothing to do with busting organized crime and al capone, but people trying to have a beer at the end of the day. local cities, they were fine with it, but the federal prohibition threw respective people in paddy wagons. that has to do with what you are reforming. a quick side note for americans who don't know this facility, this health center here, this is not a johnny come lately or a millionaire, people trying to cash in and get rich. these are people who have been in the movement, i'm trying to end the wrong for the american drug war for decades and trying to help parties, and to be under

threat as you are is an abomination as a taxpayer and patriot and voter, i'm outraged to hear that you and so many other great providers, cannabis providers are threatened around the nation. let's make sure that is stated for the record. i believe we're in the final throws of it. it's test praition, contrary to public opinion. toying around the nation and telling people that people like matt cohen, locally permitted, locally grown, tax paying farmer, cheer beer of commerce d chamber of commerce, people are outraged, republicans, democrats, young, and old, they are outraged. the people watching this, frankly, go break the law, talk about booktv here, but americans are outraged where the drug war tax money is going, and that's why i'm an optimist.

they bankrupted matt and kept 3300 parties if getting their medicine who had to go back to cartel supplies. by the way, in case there's a question, is matt cohen trying to cash in? i saw his tax returns, $57,000 over three years in salary. this was not a man getting rich. it was a man supplying patients and an activist. it's easy for me to say that you guys facing the horrible threats are sort of the last potential casualties, but let's hope not. of the drug war, but i deeply believe we are close to the tipping point, and, you know, as the mechanic, i used to go to the said -- i'm right or wrong, you know? it's either going to happen or it's not going to happen, but i'm having trouble -- another example. in the last week or two, there's been two hour long call in

shows, one for wisconsin public radio in the heartland, and the other is in maryland on the beltway, npr station, and both times, three quarters of the way through the broadcast, the host had to say, okay, people calling in in support of the author and his book and ending the drug war, great, we get the point. we want to hear from americans with some explanation why we should keep the war going. there was nobody. there was nobody who just wanted to say, yep, another 40 years, although trillion dollars. they debate us on tv and those of us here, people who know the issue probably better than i do. there are people that are paid at making a living off arguing to keep the drug war going, but that's the key factor, they are paid to say those things. correct me if i'm wrong, the drug czar, himself, is prohibited by federal law from speaking out against the

controlled substances agent. the drugs are, you don't have free speech, you're not allowed to tell the truth. as a journalist of two decades, go to the welcomes, i've been working for five continents for two decades, i've never seen an issue as black and white as this. i recognize i risk circles being stigmatized as another one of he's hemp peace man people. it's not that. it's as a patriot, journalistic take is ending the drug war is important for america, and i think it's going to happen. >> you he mentioned a word withe cartels, actually side note, i don't know how many people realize cartels really is a misnomer. cartel has a definition, and economically, it's a group of producers who form a monopoly to control a price. there is no monopoly of marijuana producers. it's fiercely competitive in the market even amongst the

mexicans, but what i'm interested in is what presence did now detect in the county of so-called cartels, whatever they might be. >> i should have known i was getting great questions here today. for those who don't know, most do, but i want the title right. the executive director of california normal, the national organization for the former marijuana laws, a ph.d. knowledgeable man working to end the war for decades, and here i am johnny come lately, giving a lecture to him. i feel humbled to the people in the presence of this room. probably wrongly called cartels, but south of the border organized crime, something along those lines. did i see that? the answer is no. a few examples of that, but so people know, that even if the number, the percentage we hear,

the profits come from cannabis, not cocaine, whatever, take 60% out of your own income and look how much it hurts you. get that away from organized crime, and put that in the taxable american economy, how much that helps us and mexico, legitimate law-abiding peaceful mexicans, and what i see is the favorite hiking area in the world is just over the border in a region, go there every time, including with my young children whenever we get a week, we hike in the beautiful canyons, and you can't miss it. it's like it's everywhere there. you see the fields. you see it in people's pickup trucks driving to the market. well, before what turned out to be my final visit, hopefully only for a short time, the distributer was a family, the region nailing distributer from the farmer's crop down there was

a family who ran the show there, and since deposed the crime sipped cat, moved into a wedding in northern part, and murdered 19 people from babies to senior citizens to the grandparents celebrating a wedding. did the horal things, and sorry how graffing it is, but it's a war that killed 40,000 americans, but that creates danger here in the bay area. that's why we have organized crime. that's why we heard about al capone. anyway, they mounted the heads of the people on a stick. they went down to the main town square, got up and said, we're now the wholesale districters. we're cutting prices 20%, and any questions, complaints? anybody not like it? there was no complaints. i called the bed and break fashion operator i knew there, and i said, can we come? is it safe? yeah, everyone has a 20% cut in

wholesale, but life goes on, it's safe. we went down. i had a tiny baby at the time, a little bit older now, and made -- this is three or four years, made a visit down there, was perfectly fine and safe, but after that, everything i was talking about today with the border town violence, but the columbus, mexico mayor, in jail, the sleepy border town near my ranch, the police chief ran across the border with the family, dove across, saying they are coming for me, can i have asylum? it's out of hand. i can't visit there anymore. it stimulated me researching the book. the reality is the real deal, really happens, it's a terrible scourge on mexico and on america by the truckload every day over the boarer, trucks coming over the border, mainly cannabis. no question that mexican organized crime exists, but where i was, iffy.

some of the reports from central valley documented mexican mafia for decades surrounding farm laborers and prison gangs and stuff like that, no question there's a presence in the united states, but there's also russian organized crime and monopoly organized # crime, but in the county, i asked a prominent la tee know businessman who -- i guess -- he was happy to talk to me, he was my mechanic, a businessman, well off guy, chamber of commerce, board member, all this stuff. the feds are raiding the forests going after the cartels. everyone they raid is an undocumented spanish speaker. are they cartels or guys growing it for someone else coming back with 100 pounds or not at all? he said, not quite they are local, american mexican

americans who have money and investing in, yes, they are telling, you know, they are basically giving us jobs to people to grow in the forest distributing it among latino channels. that was one guy's opinion, but, i mean, was there a mexican organized crime presence obvious? no. the only other thing i heard vis-a-vis organized crime was a probation community service they did at a food bank. i mentioned that. i volunteered there. i didn't mean to get all the good tips, but the fellow volunteers were people doing cannabis farming. i asked the guy, what's the deal? he was a latino man on prohibition for an indoor growing, and he said, it's here. it's sophisticated. they will even stuff it in stuffed animals and put the head back on the animals and ship it out in immediate yom sidessed -- medium sized trucks.

that was one person. i have one unconfirmed source, and the other source told me something different. i can't tell you i have a conclusive answer, but it's not pervasive. does that jive with what your sense is in the california heartland? >> well, sort of. i mean, i've heard stories about, i mean -- there are a lot of mexican farm worker, and a lot of them are growing pot, some are growing pot for anglos. there was one story a few years ago about -- actually, a friend of mine knew a grower up there who littered his site with tortillas and beans and leftovers there. [laughter] that scam was actually going on

so that's one instance. who knows what's gypping on in the national forest, but i didn't see how it lent itself to organized -- >> like a boogieman. >> why would you do that if you have -- if you could access growing it there in mexico? >> yeah. thank you so much, everybody, for coming. thank you. [applause] next weekend on the national mall, the national book fest vailing will be taking place sponsored by the library of congress, and one of the exhibits at the library of congress tent will be booked that saved america. here's a little bit about that. >> well, there's a new exhibit at at library of congress called

"books that saved america," booktv is taking a tour of that exhibit, and joining us is roberta schaver, a librarian at the library of congress. why do you call it "books that shaped america"? >> we call it that rather than changed america because we think books slowly have an impact on american society, and shaped seemed to be the better word to imply that kind of connotation. >> when you think of the word "shaped," what books come to mind? >> that's the great part about the exhibit, no one book is shaping america. so many books have had such a profound influence on american culture and society, and, indeed, the very essence of what america is that is would be impossible, and it really would be improper to pick one book from the 88 here. >> okay, there's 88 books.

starts out, the exhibit starts with common sense. >> yes, it does. although, the earliest book is actually ben franklin's book on electricity. that's a 1751 so we have two books about common sense in the show. one is dr. spok's book on raising your child on a common sense wait, and thomas payne's book that really sparked or saved the american revolution. >> now, when we see the books, are they all first editions, very rare? >> they are not all first editions or very rare, although we have books in the collection in the library of congress collection that would be first edition and very rare, if not one of a kind, but we selected books for a variety of reasons. some have inscriptions by other famous people or authors themselves. two books in the collection that i adore are books that are part of the armed service book outreach to people who are

serving in the military, and so we have two examples of books that soldiers are sent or were sent, i should say. i believe now they are sent books to read at the war front on ipods and other things, but at least in the olden days. >> what are the two books? >> ill one of them is tarza narks, and trying to think now what the other is, but, oh, my goodness -- >> while you think of that, in the exhibit, a lot of novels. >> yes, and novels are a critical part of american culture, not only dime novels that people read, the common part-time read, but some very highbrow and very complex novels. some novels that appealed to people of all ages. some chirp's books that appeal to people of all ages. the wizard of oz, not limited. >> gone with the winds is here as well. how did those books shape

america? >> well, many of them identified who we were becoming or the aspirations we had as a nation. others told about that experience that we had uniquely as americans like the diaries of louis and clark. many others really defined our dialect. huckleberry fin talk in dialect, and so they really shaped not only our ideas, but how we speak today. >> now, you also have social, cultural books, and i wanted to ask about those. you mentioned dr. spk. there's a couple cookbooks in the collection. >> yes. and a book called "the big book." >> we also thought it was important to look at non-fiction and books that either were self-help or kind of broke barriers so we looked across thed broad spectrum of books that shaped america.

we did not want to limit ourselves to a particular genera or a particular kind of book or a certain kind of author or writing style. we looked for books that were innovative, that kind of showed america as an innovative country, as a country that looked for solutions that shared experiences broadly that use the books and stories to inspire going to the front tier, and that could be literally or in that intellectual. >> here's the library of congress, you are in charge at the process? >> well, that's an interesting question. it was definitely a large committee with no chairperson, which i think is really interesting. we had a number of discussions as people brought forth titles, and believe it or not, it was not all that difficult to select the books because i think as you have implied, this was not a

definitive list. there's no article that shaped america in the title, and we really decided what we wanted to do was choose books that get america talking about books, and that was not as difficult to find consensus on as maybe choosing the 50 books or the 100 books, and so we didn't need a chairperson. >> some of the books in here created social movements. thinking ida tarbell, rachel carson. >> yesment. -- yes. one of the interesting thing about the books is they not only created social movements, but some even led to legislation. we see that the jungle new here and know that it really created the forerunner legislation to the food and drug legislation, but actually social change. >> why 88? >> 88 is really just where we

decided to stop. we were worried about using a number that's commonly sortedded with a defin nigh list, so we avoided 10, 25, and 100. beyond that, it was up to grabs. when we got to 88, we thought it was a good number. it didn't give the impression that it was the 88. >> religious books in here and poetry? >> there are. there's a running span of two centuries. we have walt whitman and allen beginsberg. we tried to be clear that poetry has been an impressive part of america's history, and that americans have been very committed to both writing and reading poetry. i think that continues today. >> what about religious books? >> well, we do have a holographic bible.

a lot of the books, while they wouldn't necessarily be associated with a religion, have a moralistic or a do-good tone to them. we are really feeling that that is more representative of america and of our values than would a particular religious book. we tried to look at the values of america, her spiritual sort of persona rather than looking at particular religious books. how did you get your start here at the library of congress? >> i started 30 years ago as the first special assistant to the law librarian, fresh out of law school. i absolutely fell in love with the library of congress. thirty plus years ago as today, you cannot keep me away. i love to work every morning. i think working here and being here surrounded by books,

scripts, musical scores, movies, the whole gamet of what really is knowledge in america is such a thrill and such a privilege that you really are going to have trouble getting me to retire. >> is this exhibit open to the public, and how long is it open? >> it's entirely open to the public. it's open through the end of september, but let's say you can't come to washington, we have a virtual version of our exhibit on our website, and part of the exhibit, part of the conversation, is an open website where we ask people from all over the world to comment on the books we've selected, but also to tell us why you think something we selected shouldn't be on the list and even more important, why something you think should be on the list should be added to the list, and we want to hear from you. so far, we heard from over 5,000 people, and we encourage everybody to go to our website,

www.loc.gov/bookfest, and you'll find the list of the books. you will also find the opportunity to complete a very, very brief form what you think of the books and what should be on the list. >> the last book you have on here was published in 2002. >> yes. we kind of decided to put a cutoff on it. we thought if we're going to be looking at books that shaped america, we have to give them an opportunity, give books an opportunity to prove their worth this facing america. this is an organic endeavor by the library of congress. we intend to keep looking at books that shape america, but we thought a decade, that's a good place to stop. because we're in 2012 now, let's stop at 2002 and keep revisiting it. >> two of the later books you have in here. >> yes, they are, and, of

course, randy's book had a huge influence. we talked about that earlier, on aids research and really sort of raising our consciousness about that terrible disease, and chavez, of course, a leading voice of the farm workers, but of america. >> these books in the exhibit, were they best sellers in their teem? >> many of them were and continue to be and have not gone out of print. that was not a specific criteria, so many translated and carried american ideals across the world. >> now, i want to ask you about another specific book, and that's emily dickinson's book of poetry. >> well, of course, emily dickinson is a must-have american poet, but the particular book that we have here in the show is an art book. it's done by a cooperative in cuba, and they have reproduced the book of poetry, and they